Shadow & Bone: Every Grisha Type & Their Powers Explained

Shadow & Bone has several kinds of Grisha, whose magic – the Small Science – gives them access to a wide range of powers. Here’s each type explained.

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Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Shadow and Bone season 1, as well as light spoilers from the books.

Shadow and Bone shows off the magic of many kinds of Grisha, but even the series could not completely cover the diverse range of powers wielded by the three orders of Grisha. The show follows Alina Starkov, a Sun Summoner, as she comes into her power among other Grisha being trained for Ravka’s Second Army at the Little Palace. In Ravka, the Grisha are used as an elite military force in their ongoing war, fostering the talents of their different orders to wield as weapons or military support.

In the world of Shadow and Bone, the Grisha do not consider their abilities magic, instead referring to Grisha magic as the Small Science. They can manipulate different elements and materials at the molecular level. This distinguishes the Small Science from merzost, real magic, which feeds on the user’s life to create something from nothing, a highly dangerous and volatile practice. Grisha are usually identified as children by traveling Grisha Examiners, but occasionally Grisha children are hidden away or repress their powers during the test. The examiners then take any discovered Grisha to the Little Palace for training, where they live in luxury among the other Grisha until they are dispatched for service in the Second Army.

There are three orders of Grisha: Corporalki, Etherealki, and Materialki. Corporalki are the Order of the Living and the Dead, who can manipulate the human body. Etherealki are summoners, who can manipulate natural elements. Materialki, also called Fabrikators, can manipulate materials like steel, glass, and chemicals. Each order wears a particular color of embroidered kefta to indicate their ability. Within these orders, there are a wide range of Grisha powers.

Sun Summoner

Sun Summoners are a type of Grisha so rare in Shadow and Bone that this power was thought to be a myth. Alina Starkov is the first known Sun Summoner. She can bend and manipulate light, including summoning heat from the sun. Her power could be the only way to destroy the Shadow Fold, the dangerous sea of darkness that split Ravka in two centuries before, as her light is the opposite of the darkness that makes up the Fold. Since she is a summoner who draws upon natural elements, she is an Etherealki.

Shadow Summoner

The Shadow Summoner is another rare case among the Grisha in Shadow and Bone, a kind of Etherealki who can manipulate darkness and shadow. The only known Shadow Summoners are the family of General Kirigan, also known as the Darkling. In addition to summoning shadows to cast darkness, Kirigan can solidify these shadows to perform the Cut, slicing through targets like a blade, though other kinds of Grisha can similarly use the Cut with enough power and focus. Shadow Summoners are also living amplifiers who can increase other Grisha’s abilities by touching them.

Heartrender

Shadow and Bone’s Heartrenders are Corporalki Grisha who can damage internal organs, such as slowing or speeding up the heart, taking the air from the lungs, slowing healing, or influencing emotions by manipulating chemicals in the body. They are the most feared Grisha and the most valued in the Second Army. However, their target must be within their line of sight, so anything that obscures their vision renders them powerless. Nina Zenik, along with General Kirigan’s trusted soldiers Ivan and Fedyor, are the most notable Heartrenders in Shadow and Bone.

Healer

Healers are the opposite of Heartrenders, able to use their power over the body to heal and mend injuries. They are extremely important in the hazardous environment of the military, and they appear frequently in Shadow and Bone when death is on the line. In the show, the Healer Luda is able to mend wounds immediately after the injury is inflicted, allowing someone to keep fighting unhampered.

Tailor

Tailors are an uncommon type of Corporalki Grisha in Shadow and Bone, capable of changing a person’s appearance by drawing upon the colors and textures of materials. The best tailors can change a person’s entire face to look like someone else. Genya is one of few known Tailors. Tailors combine the abilities of Corporalki and Materialki, straddling the line between both orders.

Squaller

Squallers are versatile Etherealki who can manipulate the air. They can control the wind and change air pressure to direct wind into a ship’s sails, push the sandskiffs through the Shadow Fold, and throw objects and people. The best Squallers, like Zoya, can also manipulate acoustics through their air, creating silence or allowing sound to travel farther. Squallers have the ability to summon lightning, but they use it rarely because of its unpredictability. In the Second Army, they are forbidden from summoning lightning.

Inferni

Inferni are Etherealki who can gather combustible particles in the air to start and control fire, but they require a spark to ignite them and cannot start a fire with just air. Inferni in the Second Army carry flint that they use to create sparks.

Tidemaker

Tidemakers are the last type of Etherealki, who can control water. Although Shadow and Bone currently features no major characters who are Tidemakers, these are powerful Grisha in the books. In the Six of Crows series, the Council of Tides is a secretive group of Tidemakers who have a lot of influence in Ketterdam. They control the tides at Ketterdam’s port, so they can restrict who enters or leaves the city or shut down the port completely. They also keep the tide high to cover the land bridge that connects Kerch to Shu Han. In the past, they have flooded the city when angered.

Durast

Durasts are Materialki Grisha who can manipulate solid materials like metal, glass, and stone. They can change the material’s shape and composition, move objects through the air, and absorb materials from a person’s body. David is the main Durast in Shadow and Bone, and he uses his ability to craft inventions like Alina’s gloves to support the Grisha.

Alkemi

Alkemi are a Materialki Grisha who can manipulate chemicals, such as poisons and blasting powders. Durasts and Alkemi are rarely distinguished from each other and are often just called Fabrikators. Although Shadow and Bone features no Alkemi yet, they play a larger role in later stories, such as the jurda parem Grisha-enhancing drug plot in Six of Crows. The Grisha have already performed impressive feats in Shadow and Bone, but upcoming seasons are sure to expand the range of Grisha in the spotlight.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/shadow-bone-grisha-characters-powers-explained/